Truck slipping

Drove up to the house at lunch time stopped and put it in park and got out,then it starts slipping down the driveway with the rear wheels slideing.Managed to get back in and push the brakes and it slid to a safe stop.We had 2 small snows and was just driveing on it till it melts.Years ago my other truck slid in the same place in the ice storm all the way into the ditch.

Some years back we had a drought, crop failure, and I was desperate. I helped a friend with his fuel delivery business. I thought he would do the logical thing and have me do a route close to home where at least I knew the roads and people. (I was surprised at how much there was to keep track of with different fuels, tanks, valves, pumps, tickets, fill locations, etc.)
No, he sends me over in snow/hill country! It had just snowed a little. It was the kind of quick coating that as soons as you drove on it, it turned to ice. I backed in, and UP a drive, by a house, popped on the parking brake(air), and took my foot off the pedal. Truck slid forward! Don't you think I was concerned getting that thing where it hopefully would stay long enough to chock it. Then I didn't trust it. I could picture it sliding down the drive, across the road, into the far ditch, with me on tow, hose ripping loose, vehicle coming down road not able to stop, 60 GPM pump pumping fuel all over!!!!!!! Yikes!!!!!!

The town that I live in is very hilly. There are rules limiting driveway grade that the developers have to follow when building, but sometimes they whine and complain enough to the planning board that they get a waiver. Well one winter's morning our rescue was dispatched to a medical problem at a pretty new home with a fairly steep drive. We went in and evaluated the patient and went back out after the ambulance got there to bring the litter in. The medics got out of their rig setting the brake of course. Then there goes the ambulance sliding down the driveway. It could have been bad if it had been an engine and another firefighter was arriving after it and was walking up the drive. The Fire Dept. prevailed upon the planning board to quit giving driveway waivers. Not long after this during the summer, while a friend that is a developer was away on active duty to Bosnia, his two twenty something sons were running the business. I drove by one day when they were working on the driveway of a new home that was coming down steep to the road. Not only were they making it too steep, they also had it running right out into the dirt road by about three feet. I knew that they wouldn't get away with it so I tried to explain it so that they wouldn't have too much tearing out to do. They wouldn't listen and did it their way, and had to tear it out and put in a sweeping curve.

Turn it around and it will slip the other way.
Walt giggle

Not like these
Steep

Thats reminds me of a few areas of Boston MA and Toronto Ontario. Not sure how they are even worthwhile to have being that steep.

Rick

If it is 4 wheel-drive, leave it in 4 wheel drive and it should stay put...

Ron..

(quoted from post at 20:03:01 01/26/13) Not like these
Steep

Click to expand...

I don't see how those drive could even be useful. The yuppies that would live in these type of houses would probably be driving little vw's and the like that would high center just trying to get into the drive. Also, how would there little box store lawn tractor or zero turn get into the garage without high centering. Just my 2 cents!

Makes one wonder just how dumb people can get and the get a contractors liscence. A gal that road to work with had a house on hill they dug the road down so it was to steep but left there driveway almost straight up. Bummer
Walt

Just throw some sand, salt, ice melt or dirt in the wheel tracks where you want to park. It will give some extra traction and will also help to melt the ice a little faster.

The suggestion to leave it in 4WD will also help.

Back in 1992 we had a new furnace and ac installed. I was at at work & wasn't home. We had some freezing rain overnight and the main roads had been salted. My wife said when they unloaded the ac it sailed down the driveway along with several contractors. That didn't stop them from completing the work. Both units are Ruud and I've only had one service on each unit. The furnace had a pinched wire that blew a fuse. The ac had a low voltage contactor that was chattering. The heating contractor gave me a new contactor and I installed it. Hal

Get some sand and spread it out.

I used to use oil dry. That always worked good for me. Stop at the resturant with a 11 axle truck
,and it would melt little pockets under each tire, so I'd put down a little oil dry behind the drive tires and back up a little.

There used to be a contractor who would build High end houses in Portland's west hills ( the high rent district). These were on the previously unusable lots. I delivered to one that the driveway was so steep, I refused to go up it on the Moffit fork lift. The only way the sub contractor could get the product up there was to put about 1/2 a pallet in his 4x4 pickup and back up with the transfer case in 4x4l low range. The rumor was that the general contractor would build em. get fined for the driveway being out of spec. and sell em.
Tim in OR